IronGear Pickups

The Blues Engine, as the name suggests, is the best choice. If you want to spend a little less, then the Rolling Mill is great for the job and a very popular choice!

It depends how much drive you're looking for. Both the Blues Engine and the Rolling Mill are both capable of superb rock tones. If you're looking for more output to really get things cooking, then the Dirty Torque or the Hot Slag are the beasts for the job!
Also, a combination of either the Hot Slag bridge pickup, paired with a Rolling Mill at the neck, or if you can afford a few pennies more, the Dirty Torque bridge pickup with the Blues Engine at the neck, is a great way to achieve maximum flexibility.

Both the Steam Hammer and Hammer Head pickups are maximum output metal monsters and have proven to be extremely popular with both metal heads and gain fiends.

They weren't always regarded as "low" output. When the humbucker was developed, what we now describe as low output was considered to be the optimum conjunction of output, tone and clarity. The trend towards higher output pickups has led to the perception that this optimum is now regarded as low, but it wasn't always so. The difficulty with increasing the output of any pickup is that, by increasing the number of coil-windings, the internal capacitance of the pickup is also increased and this inevitably leads to a drop-of of high frequencies. This is the reason why guitarists seeking the ulimate tone often choose lower output pickups.

Very probably! Check our wiring page first, and if you don't see what you're looking for, drop us an email and we'll, more than likely, be able to help.

The difference between the Hammer Head / Steam Hammer pickups is mainly due to the larger pole-pieces of the Hammer Head sensing a longer length of string. This leads to an extended bottom end and is also beneficial for maintaining output for string bends. The Steam Hammer has slightly better clarity for cleans, but it's marginal.

Yes, no problem at all. 2 of the wires are connected together and taped off. The remaining wires are connected to the same points as your existing 2-wire pickup. We provide you with more detailed information in the wiring instructions that come with your 4-wire pickup.

Chrome, familiar to almost everybody, is a very bright finish. Compared to chrome, nickel looks more like silver and has more of a tendency to develop a mellow tarnish with age. A nickel finish is often associatted with high-end pickups and some manufacturers charge a premium price for it.